Overall though, not a bad list. And as I said, almost 100 of them are available for free...

It is a good list, though I wonder what age range the compiler considers to be children.

That said, there is a lot of lovely stuff available free. For illustrated books, start by searching for Randolph Caldecott and Arthur Rackham at Project Gutenberg. Toss in N.C. Wyeth while you're at it.
______Dennis

My favorite pos-grown up book would be Calvin & Hobbes comics. Doesn't quite work for little fellows most of the time, as I became quite aware of through my daughter... but no doubt wonderful reminiscences from childhood from a bitter perspective...

Pat the Bunny. Really. All I remember about that book as a child is that it smelled horrendous. Someone bought the book for my daughter, and guess what? It's not entertaining for me or the baby, and it still smells horrible.

List has Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems - I love that book

I would add Dr. Seuss' Fox in Socks just for the tweetle beetle battle part of the book. I also have a warm squishy place for The Lorax. Upon a recent reread, I just now understood the name of "The Once-ler"; never understood the implication as a kid.

Quote:

When tweetle beetles fight,
it's called a tweetle beetle battle.

And when they battle in a puddle,
it's a tweetle beetle puddle battle.

AND when tweetle beetles battle with paddles in a puddle,
they call it a tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle.

AND...

When beetles battle beetles in a puddle paddle battle
and the beetle battle puddle is a puddle in a bottle...
...they call this a tweetle beetle bottle puddle paddle battle muddle.

AND...

When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles...
...they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle
bottle paddle battle.

AND...

Now wait a minute, Mr. Socks Fox!

When a fox is in the bottle where the tweetle beetles battle
with their paddles in a puddle on a noodle-eating poodle,
THIS is what they call...

One of my favorite children's books is not on the list, Me and Caleb, by Franklyn E. Meyer from 1962. It's a set of humorous adventures of a 12 year old boy and his 8 year old brother in a small town in the Ozarks. It's unfortunately hard to find.

I suppose I have a real problem with authority, because when I see these "must read" lists I want to thumb my nose at them.

you may work around that by thinking of it as "must bash books" list. You'll begin reading just to bash and critique them, but eventually some of them may grow on you. Not because some authority said so but because they were able to overcome your goal of turning them down.

My favorite children's book is "Nothing" by Mick Inkpen. I got this at our local library and read it to my daughters. They, as well as I, fell immediately in love with it and had to search high and low on ebay until we found a copy to purchase.